The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare Read Free Book Online

Book: The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare Read Free Book Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
music repeatedly breaks out on the slightest pretext or on no pretextat all … Mr. Worthing [Valentine] charged himself with feeling without any particular reference to his lines; and Mr. Craig [Proteus] struck a balance by attending to the meaning of his speeches without taking them at all to heart. 10
    Shaw did, however, reserve a qualified note of praise for Lance and Crab, whose scenes “brought out the latent silliness and childishness of the audience as Shakespear’s [
sic
] clowning scenes always do: I laugh at them like a yokel myself,” and for Ada Rehan’s Julia who “stirred some feeling into the part” as well as providing “a strong argument for rational dress by looking much better in her page’s costume than in that of her own sex.” 11 In New York, Julia was once more a star role, “but not even Miss Rehan’s pleasing exhibition of herself in page-boy costume, nor the moonlit lake Daly invented for the environs of Milan, nor a thunderstorm in the final act could make up for the tenuousness of the narrative.” 12
    Preconceptions about the quality of the play, often excused as juvenilia and a forerunner to worthier comedies, continued to influence twentieth-century reviewers;
The Times
noted of Ben Iden Payne’s 1938 Stratford Memorial Theatre production, “All the chief romantic characters are continually vexed by the ghosts of their descendants,” 13 though there were exceptions. William Poel staged the play at His Majesty’s Theatre in London for Herbert Beerbohm Tree in 1910, following earlier productions in the 1890s. Beerbohm Tree, famous for his Victorian spectaculars, was diametrically opposed to Poel’s Elizabethan-influenced, bare-stage approach, but allowed Poel to build out an apron stage over the orchestra pit to his own specifications. As a result, “the literary quality of the play, the verve of its dialogue, the lyric beauty of many of its passages came out with unusual freshness and clear-cut relief.” 14
    As it did not afford an obvious starring role for the great actor-managers, the play was rarely performed or reviewed during their heyday. In 1904, Harley Granville-Barker took the role of Speed at the Royal Court, while Frank Benson played the First Outlaw in his mounting at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1910. At this stage, the play was primarily treated as a curio that needed to be “resolved”—J. C. Trewin noted that Granville-Barker’s production “was smoothed along gracefully,” 15 while Benson’s succeeded “in spite of its maddening ending,” which continued to cause problems for reviewers wanting neat sentiments. 16 In 1925, meanwhile, one reviewer generously called William Bridges-Adams’ mounting

    1. Augustin Daly’s 1896–97 New York production with Ada Rehan as Julia who “stirred some feeling into the part” as well as providing “a strong argument for rational dress by looking much better in her page’s costume than in that of her own sex.”
    A fresh and successful experiment. Although it is light in structure and has no great acting part, it is surprising that it should so seldom be performed for it is a melodious play, full of witty contrivance and written in a verse that sings. 17
    The Stratford performance history of the play is unremarkable, although Ben Greet’s 1916 production did feature Sybil Thorndike as Julia, and Paddy Rainbow made an impression as Crab. The Crab/Lance scenes remained the chief draw, as in Payne’s production:
    So far as individual performances go it is Mr. Jay Laurier’s evening. This comedian finds in Launce a character almost perfectly suited to his humour, and whenever he is on the stage we are in contact with something that is more than a mere foreshadowing of greater things to come. 18
    Denis Carey’s exuberant production by a young cast for the Bristol Old Vic in 1952 was broadcast on BBC1, ironing over the more problematic areas of the play with a zestful approach. Muriel St. Clare Byrne

Similar Books

Perilous Waters

Diana Paz

The Gold of the Gods

Erich von Däniken

Wouldn't It Be Deadly

D. E. Ireland

Exiled Omnibus

James Hunt

Give and Take

Laura Dower

Hidden Scars

Amanda King